To obtain a higher user throughput, a coordinated multiple point transmission and reception (Coordinated Multiple Point transmission and reception, CoMP) technology and a multiple-user multiple-input multiple-output (Multiple-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MU-MIMO) technology may be used in a communication system.
The CoMP technology refers to that multiple access points that are geographically separated provide one or multiple user equipments (User Equipment, UE) with data transmission services. For the CoMP technology, a base station needs to use channel state information between the UE and a candidate access point as input information or reference information to complete processes of sending precoding and pairing multiple users.
For a multi-point transmission system with joint processing (Joint Processing, JP), the UE needs to feed back channel state information between the UE and multiple access points, that is, the UE needs to feed back joint channel state information. In a multi-point transmission system, the information fed back by the UE is extended from channel state information between the UE and a single access point to channel state information between the UE and multiple access points, therefore, feedback overheads are increased. If feedback precision needs to be improved, a further increase of feedback overheads may be caused; however, under a condition of low feedback overheads, feedback precision may be greatly affected.